Doctor Seduction

by Beverly Bird

  It had been such a small kernel at first, at the very heart of her, back when this had started. But day by day, it mushroomed into something uglier and more treacherous. The betrayal ate at her. The unfairness of it all clawed at her soul. Now, watching the three of them together, she wanted to scream.

  They were thicker than thieves, she thought. And each one of them was, in some way, responsible for destroying her.

  She wanted to destroy each of them in return, wanted to take a piece out of each of them that would hurt them badly. Oh, yes, she would end up with Cait’s baby. The little nurse was obviously rattled, proving the game last night had worked. But that wasn’t enough anymore. Now the woman knew that she couldn’t leave until every one of them knew what it was to lose everything.

  She put her car in gear and slid away from the curb before Sam’s car could pass hers and one of them could recognize her.

  Twelve

  Molly Gates had never forgotten Caitlyn Matthews. Over a year ago, when Molly had thought that her career with the Mission Creek Police Department was unraveling faster than she could catch the threads, when she’d first begun to suspect that there were a lot of bad cops in town with an agenda of their own, Caitlyn had saved the day for her. Unwittingly, of course, but she’d done it. When the Lion’s Den, the network of twisted police officers, had beaten up a teenage boy to teach him a lesson, Cait had gone out of her way to make sure the boy got good care, with or without health insurance. And she had been with Bobby Jansen when Bobby had startled babbling incoherently about the cop ring. It would have been easy for Cait to have dismissed everything he’d said as delusional ramblings, as Molly herself almost had. It would have been second nature for most people not to have gotten involved in such an ugly situation. But Cait had made it a point to tell Molly everything Bobby had said.

  And then, finally, the pieces of the Lion’s Den had all started clicking together for her. Molly had come out of the mess with her gold detective’s shield and a man she loved more than sense. And by Molly’s staunch, backstreet code, that meant she owed the Mission Creek Memorial nurse a debt of gratitude.

  “So what’s your take on it?” Molly asked Jake White, lifting the coffeepot from its hot plate in the corner of his office. She sniffed its contents. “Ugh.”

  Jake watched her, chewing his lip. “You know, I heard a rumor that you once ate a piece of day-old pizza in that task-force war room when you were breaking the Lion’s Den.”

  Molly glanced at him. “I was proving a point.”

  “Well, my coffee can’t be worse than that.”

  “Five bucks says that it is.” But she poured some, anyway. “Caitlyn Matthews,” she said again, moving to sit in front of his desk. “Tell me what you think of all this, then tell me what I can do to help.”

  Jake thought about it. “Tabitha knows her a lot better than I do—which is to say not much at all. But she feels that if Ms. Matthews is imagining this, then the sun rises at night.”

  Molly nodded her understanding. “Not possible unless the apocalypse is on its way.”

  “That’s about the size of it. There’s not a doubt in Tabitha’s mind that someone broke into Ms. Matthews’s apartment, someone left her a nasty note, and someone made like Branson Hines in her kitchen last night.”

  Molly leaned back and stretched out her jeans-clad legs. She loved being a detective and out of uniform. “That last part is particularly nasty, if you ask me.”

  “Considering what all she went through a few weeks ago, yes, indeed.”

  “So it either really is Hines, or someone hates her a very great deal.”

  “To do something like that? I agree. But Hines is in jail.”

  Molly nodded. “So the next question is, who hates that nice, pretty nurse?”

  “She says she has no enemies.”

  “They all say that.” Molly stood again to pace. “Think I can I have a look-see around her apartment? That might tell us something.”

  “It was going to be my next step. Hold on. I’ll see if I can arrange it.” Jake picked up the phone and called the hospital. He asked for his fiancée, who promptly put him on hold. Molly could tell from the tone of the conversation that Cait Matthews was the next one to come on the line. Then Jake put her on hold.

  “When do you want to do it?” he asked Molly.

  She glanced at her watch. “I have an appointment tonight that I can’t break. The director of the rec center where I volunteer is receiving a commendation from the city. Big hoopla. I’m even wearing a dress.” And that, she thought, would knock her husband’s eyes out. She grinned privately. “How about first thing in the morning? Say eight o’clock.”

  Jake picked up the phone again and arranged it with Cait. “I’ll take a run over to Laredo tomorrow, too,” he said when he hung up. “We’re taking it for granted that Deena is in that flophouse Hines keeps calling, but I want to see her with my own eyes and have a word with her.”

  “She wasn’t implicated in anything Hines did, so we can’t exactly spend tax dollars or violate her civil rights by keeping tabs on her.”

  “Bingo. But if Hines is reaching out for Caitlyn Matthews from his jail cell, then who better to use than his missus?”

  Molly started to agree, then shook her head. “You know what bothers me? Of all the people Hines might have developed a grudge against through all that, why Caitlyn Matthews? Others had a bigger part in bringing him down. All she did was escape.”

  Jake stood from his desk. “Maybe she tweaked his antennae somehow.”

  “I just don’t see it.”

  “Yeah, it bothers me, too. Which is why I want Sam Walters to think a little about who he might have ticked off lately. This has the ring of a jealous lover.”

  “We’ll get to the bottom of it,” Molly assured him. “Just as soon as I go flash my legs at Danny.”

  Jake laughed. “Lucky man.”

  “You don’t know the half of it.”

  Cait hung up the phone in Tabitha’s office and watched her Friday excursion to Laredo run through her fingers like sand. Then again, Sam probably wouldn’t have left her side long enough for her to make the drive, anyway. He’d been sticking to her like glue all day.

  She looked at Tabitha, who’d called Cait to her private office for Jake’s call.

  “He’s sending someone to look at my apartment tomorrow morning,” Cait explained. “Molly Gates. I know her.”

  “The one who asked you to look in on Beatty Jansen?”

  “That’s the one.”

  “She can’t do it today?”

  “Apparently not. I’d already put in for a sick day tomorrow, anyway. I was…” Cait trailed off. “I was going to do some errands,” she said feebly.

  Tabitha cocked her head. “It’s not like you to take a day off for something like that. Tell me the truth. You’re secretly running off for a long dirty weekend with Sam, right?”

  Cait’s breath caught in her throat and she coughed. “Where do you get these ideas?”

  “I’m not passing judgment,” Tabitha said. “I think it’s great.”

  “I’m doing errands.”

  “If that’s what they call it these days.” Tabitha shrugged. “I just find it very interesting that Sam also canceled our double-date dinner tomorrow night.”

  Cait’s heart sank. It was the first she’d heard of it. “He did?” He’d lost interest in her already. She’d known he would, sooner or later, but it hit her like a wrecking ball.

  “He didn’t tell you?” Tabitha’s eyes narrowed. “He changed it to Saturday night.”

  “I haven’t really spoken to him.” Cait almost had to spit out the lie this time. Yes, she was definitely getting back to herself.

  “He said you guys had another engagement. You’re meeting his parents.”

  “I’m what?”

  But Tabitha was gone again, in the outer office conferring with her assistant.

  Cait took two, then three deep, steadying breaths. It d
idn’t work. It didn’t calm her. Panic clawed along her nerve endings. She couldn’t meet his parents. She couldn’t get in that deep. She couldn’t bear to enjoy his family, too, then let it all go.

  She went to find Sam. He was in his office and his door was open. She barged in and slammed it shut behind her, leaning her back against it. “I’m not meeting your parents.”

  He looked up, surprised. Then he settled back in his chair. “It’s their wedding anniversary. I completely forgot about it until my sister called me this morning. Big bash at their house. And I’m not going alone.”

  “I’m not getting involved with your family!” It would complicate everything. “I’m…I’m…”

  Sam waited.

  “A one-time thing!” she blurted.

  “Honey, we’re pushing five now. Or is it six?”

  “Stop it!”

  “All right. But you’re still my date for tomorrow night.”

  He was teasing her, but she couldn’t get her equilibrium together enough to joust back. Which terrified her. “I have errands,” she pleaded. “I can’t.”

  “You have errands during the day. We’re not going to the party until seven o’clock. Besides, I’m doing those errands with you.”

  “But you have to work.”

  “I’ll be on call. I switched with another doctor.”

  “You can’t do this!”

  “What? Watch over you? Protect you?”

  “It was all in my mind!”

  “When Jake White tells me that, I’ll believe it.”

  Cait felt something shift inside her and it almost broke her heart. “Sam,” she said softly, “you don’t have to do this. Nothing that happened with Hines was your fault.”

  “I know.”

  “You do?”

  “I’ve come to realize that, now that you’ve knocked me over the head with it a few times. I’m watching over you now because I can’t lose you.”

  She felt her breath catch and her eyes fill. How had this all gotten so complicated?

  Cait turned to flee the room. His voice stopped her again. “By the way, we’re staying at my condo tonight. I can’t take that bed of yours even one more time.”

  She hesitated, then left, slamming the door behind her.

  Sam waited until he was sure she was gone, then picked up the telephone to check that the cleaning service was at his condo. They were supposed to be—it was Thursday. But he was about to bring a woman to his condo for the first time in his life, and he wanted to make sure.

  By the sheer grace of the Hippocratic Oath, Cait managed to race back to her apartment by herself the next morning. Sam was called to the hospital whether he liked it or not. She was reasonably sure that the only reason he hadn’t argued with her about making the appointment with Molly later was that the woman was a police detective.

  As Cait made the quick drive, part of her had a sweet ache. She still felt overwhelmed by what was happening to her life. Sam had spent the night touching her as though he really meant something by it.

  She met Molly in front of her garage at five past eight. She jumped out of her car, saying, “I’m sorry I’m late.”

  Molly grinned. “If he’s a good man, then it was worth my time.”

  Cait flushed. “I’m not…he’s not…”

  “Save it for someone who hasn’t been there. For now, I want you to walk me through this whole business of Hines’s voice. Okay?”

  “Yes. Yes, of course.”

  Cait hightailed it for the stairs. She let the detective in, and for the next ten minutes she explained in detail what had happened. At first she felt like a fool. Each time she recited the story, she thought she sounded more and more like a raving lunatic. She’d had a dream and had come undone. Or, heaven help her, she was hearing voices that weren’t there. Then it struck her that she actually trusted this woman. If Molly Gates thought this was purely a product of her imagination, then Cait had no doubt she would just come out and tell her so. There was something basic about the woman, some rough times just shading the corners of her eyes. Cait sensed they shared a common past. She guessed that Molly Gates had come by what she had the hard way, just as Cait had.

  In all her life, she had never trusted anyone. And now there was Sam and Tabitha and this woman. Her life was getting crowded. She didn’t know whether to laugh at that or to cry.

  “Well?” she asked finally when she’d finished her story.

  “Hold on,” Molly said. Then she started rummaging through her kitchen.

  Twenty minutes later, when the cabinets, cupboards and refrigerator yielded nothing interesting, the last thing she did was open the kitchen door that led down to the garage. “Ah. Here’s your answer. Grab me a kitchen towel, will you?”

  “What?” Cait demanded, but she obediently grabbed a towel from a drawer and handed it to her.

  Molly used it to pick something up off the top step. “How about a box?” she asked, instead of replying. “A shoe box or something. Do you have anything like that handy?”

  “I don’t know. Let me look.”

  Cait found one in her bedroom closet—it had held the high heels she’d bought for the ball. She hurried back to the kitchen with it and watched as Molly deposited a small tape player in it. Then she stuck her finger in the towel and used that to hit a button.

  In the next instant, Hines’s voice filled the room again. Cait gasped and flinched.

  “Easy,” Molly said. “It’s just newfangled electronics.”

  “Someone taped his voice?” She was disbelieving. She needed to sit down.

  Molly nodded. “I’m going to take this back to the station to see what we can find out by examining the tape itself. It’s our stroke of luck that no one’s had a chance to reclaim this little toy yet.”

  “Someone taped his voice,” Cait said again, amazed.

  Molly’s expression softened. “Caitlyn, you have an enemy. Someone who knew the one thing that would come closest to striking your soul.”

  “I have an enemy,” she whispered. It was all too much.

  “Who?” Molly pressed.

  Misery flooded her. “I don’t know.”

  “Well, then,” Molly said, “I guess we’re going to have to go about this with forensic expertise. We’ll see if we can lift any prints off this gadget.” She picked the box up again and started out of the kitchen.

  Cait’s mind locked on one thing. “I didn’t imagine it,” she said.

  Molly hesitated and glanced back. “Everything that’s been happening to you? Nope.”

  “I’m not crazy.”

  Molly grinned. “Not to hear anyone who knows you tell it.”

  Cait stood on unsteady legs and went with the detective into the living room to see her out. She wasn’t crazy. Now she could go about making some sense of the rest of the mess of her life.

  And what a mess it was, she thought at a quarter past seven that evening. Sam eased the Maserati to a stop in front of a sprawling split level in a pleasant part of town. Cars already spilled out of the driveway. Lights glittered in every window. Looking at it, Cait felt overwhelmed. How could she do this?

  She still wasn’t sure why she had allowed Sam to drag her here. For that matter, she wasn’t sure why she hadn’t gone to Laredo today after Molly Gates had left her apartment. She could have escaped undetected while Sam was at the hospital. In truth, Cait realized she didn’t know much of anything anymore, except that someone really was after her and she wasn’t out of her mind. And she couldn’t bear to waste these precious days when Sam seemed to want her.

  “Brace yourself,” he said, coming around to open her door.

  Cait swung her feet to the pavement and stood. “For what?”

  “Noise and misery.”

  “I don’t understand.” She followed him up the walkway.

  “All but one of my siblings has been married so many times there’s a total of fifteen kids among them. And my parents wish they’d never gotten married at all.”


  “But they’re still together,” she said, joining him at the door.

  “Forty-five years tonight.”

  “Why?”

  He looked at her as though she had spoken in Chinese.

  “If they wish they hadn’t gotten married,” she persisted, “why would they stay together forty-five years?”

  “Inertia, probably.” He opened the door.

  A wall of sound hit Cait and almost knocked her over. Shrieks and laughter. Shouts and music. There were people everywhere. She remembered what he had said before regarding his parents’ life. “This isn’t boring,” she murmured, stepping inside.

  An older woman swept down on them. Cait had a bad moment when she thought she was aiming at her. But she went for Sam, clutching his face in her hands. “Sammy.”

  “Sammy?” Cait echoed.

  He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. “Breathe a word of that and you die.”

  “Might be worth it.”

  “Cait, I’m serious—”

  “And who’s this?” the woman interrupted.

  “Cait Matthews,” Sam said. “My mother, Maribel Walters.”

  Maribel looked back at Sam, clearly astounded. “You brought a woman?” Then she turned back to the room and clapped her hands. “Listen up, everyone. Sammy brought a woman!”

  Cait wished the floor would open beneath her feet and swallow her. Then she fully registered Maribel Walters’s words and her world swung out of orbit again. Sam went through the female hospital staff like a hungry man at a smorgasbord. Hadn’t he ever brought one of those women home?

  She looked at him. She wanted to know. She needed to know. What did this mean? But then a young woman thrust a plate of little sandwich pieces into her hand.

  “I’m Sandy,” she said.

  “Hello. I’m Cait.”

  “I know. Mom told me. I’m Sam’s sister.”

  “I’m pleased to meet you.” Cait still hadn’t gotten much more than three feet into the house, and now Sandy was circling her.

  “What’s the matter?” Cait asked. Was she over-dressed? Underdressed? She looked down at herself. With the state of her mind these days, had she forgotten to put clothes on entirely?